


consequences

by thisissirius



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 21:26:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7331218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisissirius/pseuds/thisissirius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing about choices, is that sometimes they’re not choices at all. </p>
<p>  <i>Alec stands at the edge of a precipice, and whichever way he chooses, fall or dive, he’s going to end up heartbroken in the end. </i></p>
<p>  <i>“Choose, Alexander Lightwood.”</i> </p>
<p>  <i>“I can’t,” Alec whispers, broken.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	consequences

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for a prompt on the shadowhuntersficathon tumblr. i hope i did it justice!
> 
> _Malec: someone (idk who it's up to you) kidnaps Magnus and Isabelle and makes Alec chose which one gets to live so uh yeah_
> 
> anyway. unbetad. written in like an hour so excuse any mistakes.

Alec stands at the edge of a precipice, and whichever way he chooses, fall or dive, he’s going to end up heartbroken in the end. 

“Choose, Alexander Lightwood.”

“I can’t,” Alec whispers, broken.

Digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands, Alec stares at Magnus, then Izzy. Both are bound, Magnus magically so. Stripped of the very thing that makes him so vibrant, Magnus’ eyes hold a wealth of pain that’s not just evidence of his loss. 

Alec’s own wrists are shackled in front of him, chains heavy. He’s exhausted, drained by the fight, and though he wants to find some hidden reserves of energy, he’s helpless. 

Izzy holds Alec’s gaze. “It’s okay, Alec.”

“We love you,” Magnus says, holding his head higher. “Whichever way you choose.”

It makes it worse; Alec thinks he can literally feel his heart breaking. He wishes Jace were here, or Clary, or Simon. He wants help, wants to save both Izzy and Magnus and not have to make this choice. 

They’re only a hairs breadth apart. If Alec’s hands weren’t shackled so tightly to the ground, he could reach out and brush a hand over Izzy’s hair, cup a hand to Magnus’ cheek. Alec swallows down the urge to cry. 

A voice, _the_ voice, echoes around the chamber. “You can choose only one of them.”

Magnus looks pained, and not just from the way his arms are twisted viciously behind his back. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Alec says, choked up. 

Asmodeus and his games. 

Izzy is crying, mascara smudged against the corners of her eyes, down her left cheek. One of her shoes is broken, the heel discarded to one side, the other kicked off. Her hair is mussed, though most still pulled into a ponytail. To Alec, she’s still beautiful and deadly. 

Magnus’ shirt is torn, revealing toned abs marred by a vicious, red wound. His eyeshadow is wiped clean off one eye, and some of his jewellery is missing or broken. He looks beaten down by his lack of magic, but he still burns with the fire and intensity that Alec so loves about him. 

“I can’t do this,” Alec says. “I can’t choose between them.”

Twin seraph blades, one red in colour, the other white, hover dangerously above the two people Alec loves most in the world. They bob a little before dropping. Alec yells, pulling against the chains binding him to the floor. The blades halt, inches from their targets, and Alec’s chest clenches painfully. 

“Alec,” Magnus says, eyes wide and sad. “I’ve lived a long, good life.”

“No, Magnus! Alec you can’t choose him!”

Alec’s throat feels too thick, like he can’t breathe. Anger blossoms in his chest, and he clenches his fists so tightly he’s sure his palms are bleeding. “I’m going to kill you,” he yells to nothing he can see. “I’m going to find you and rip you apart.”

A mocking laugh rings through the chamber, and Alec shudders despite himself. “So brave, and yet you can’t make a simple choice.”

“It’s not a choice!” Alec yells, unable to look his sister in the eye, to meet Magnus’ pained gaze. 

“Perhaps not,” the voice says again, still amused. Alec’s going to scour the demon world for that voice and make it pay, make it suffer. “The sooner you decide who dies, the sooner you can come and find me.”

Silence. It feels worse than the laugh.

Alec opens his mouth, forms a name that’s more sob than word. 

There’s a horrible lurching feeling in his stomach and then he’s standing back in Central Park, where everything started. His hands are free, his bow and quiver broken at his feet.

Izzy looks at him, tears still staining her face. She reaches out to touch Alec, to console him, but he jerks back out of reach. "Alec, it's okay." 

It wasn't okay. Alec had just told Asmodeus he could kill Magnus and -

Alec turns, leans against a tree and throws up. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand as hot tears splash down his cheeks. He feels so weak, so broken.

“Alec.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Alec sees a familiar pair of boots against the roots of the tree. Alec hardly dares hope, doesn’t think he can look up and be wrong-

“Magnus,” Alec breathes, and wraps his arms around Magnus’ shoulders. Magnus feels real and solid beneath his hands and Alec lets himself cry. 

A hand comes to cradle the back of his head, fingers smoothing down his hair. “I’m okay, I’m here.”

“I don’t understand,” Alec whispers, hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot as Izzy joins them. She hugs Magnus, whispers something low in his ear that Alec can’t hear. 

“My father enjoys games,” Magnus says, and there’s so much in what he’s not saying. Alec curls his fingers into Magnus’, rests his forehead on Magnus’ shoulder. Magnus is still carding fingers through his hair and it’s soothing and real and here. “Your pain fed him enough for months.”

Alec feels another burst of anger, of hate, towards Asmodeus. How someone so foul and evil could create someone as wonderful as Magnus doesn’t make sense. “I’m sorry. How can you-”

“Hey,” Magnus says, pulling back so that he can take Alec’s face in his hands. “You made the right choice, do you understand?”

“How can you say that?” Alec says, anger warring with distress. 

“Because I love you,” Magnus says, brushing a thumb over Alec’s cheek. “Because I know you love me. Because I’ve lived so long and so well. Because you’re hurting. I would expect nothing less of anyone else having to make that choice.”

Alec swallows, doesn’t know how to begin replying to that. He pushes into the hand on his cheek, wraps his fingers in Magnus’ torn jacket. “I would have killed him.”

“I would have helped,” Izzy says, her own voice raw with emotion. She has a shaking hand on Magnus’ hip, and Magnus takes her fingers in his. 

There’s another long, drawn silence. 

Alec lets his breath out slow. “I love you too.”

“I know,” Magnus says, smiling. 

One day Alec is going to kill Asmodeus, draw out his death and make him suffer for every hurt he’s visited on Magnus. For now, Alec lets himself hold his sister and lover, cherish every moment he has with them. 

It’s not okay, it’s not even a fix, but it’s a starting point.


End file.
